Swivel connector

ABSTRACT

A swivel connector has a female part and a male part that are connected to each other so as to swivel. The female part has a main body with an interior cavity and an open face, and a strap connector. The male part has a plug portion and a strap connector. A ring lock locks the male portion to the female portion and is formed by two side walls connected by two pivot bars, the side walls of the ring lock being rotatably connected to the female part. The male part is locked to the female part by inserting the plug portion into the interior cavity, and the ring lock is held by spring in a locked position where the open face is blocked by one of the pivot bars. The male part is released from the female part by rotating the ring lock against the force of the spring until the open face is not blocked by the pivot bar.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 16/181,704, filed on Nov. 6, 2018, the disclosure of which isherein incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a swivel connector for connecting two strapstogether. In particular, the invention relates to a swivel connectorthat is locked and unlocked by rotating a ring lock that locks the twoparts together.

2. The Prior Art

Swivel connectors are commonly used to connect two straps to each other,for example when attaching an article to a bag. The connector consistsof a two parts that are locked together by inserting the male part intothe female part and then locking them together, while still allowingrotation of the parts relative to each other. United States PatentApplication Publication No. 2017/0049193 discloses a swivel connector ofthis type, having a male part and a female part that are connectedtogether in a rotatable fashion. A spring-loaded push button is used forreleasing the two parts from the locked position. The drawback of thisdevice is that the swing of the male part is exactly in the samedirection that can push the push button to open from the inside. Thus innormal use, there is a risk that the button may be opened accidentallyand release the male part from the female part. Moreover, the pushbutton has a long, thin extension that functions as a spring to securethe two parts together in the locked position. However, because thisshape is highly flexible, there is always a risk of inadvertent release.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a swivel connectorthat cannot be inadvertently disconnected, is structurally strong, andhas a reduced swing angle.

These and other objects are accomplished by a swivel connector that hasa female part and a male part that are connected to each other via aring lock so as to swivel. The female part comprises a main body havingan end wall, two side pieces, an interior cavity and an open face, and astrap connector connected to the main body. The male part comprises aplug portion and a strap connector connected to the plug portion. Thering lock has two side walls connected by two pivot bars located onopposite sides from each other, the side walls of the ring lock beingrotatably connected to the side pieces of the main body of the femalepart so that the ring lock can be rotated around the female part into alocked position and an unlocked position by raising and lowering thepivot bars. The male part is locked to the female part by inserting theplug portion into the interior cavity, and then rotating the ring lockinto a locked position where the open face is blocked by one of thepivot bars. The male part is released from the female part by rotatingthe ring lock until the open face is not blocked by the pivot bar, andsliding the male part out of the interior cavity via the open face.

In a preferred embodiment, the interior cavity has a shape correspondingto a shape of the plug portion. In particular, the interior cavity canhave an upper chamber, a lower chamber and a flange between the upperand lower chambers on at least one of the side wall or end pieces. Theplug portion has an end cap corresponding to the shape of the upperchamber, and a flange extending outward from the plug below the end capand corresponding to a shape of the lower chamber, with a groove formedbetween the flange of the plug portion and the end cap. When the malepart is inserted into the interior cavity, the flange in the interiorcavity engages the groove in the plug portion to secure the male part tothe female part. In this arrangement, the male part can swivel around avertical axis of rotation with respect to the female part, but due tothe engagement of the groove and the flange, no vertical movement cantake place, so that the plug portion is firmly seated in the interiorcavity.

In one embodiment, the plug portion and interior cavity have a roundcross-section, and when the male part is locked to the female part, themale part and female parts can rotate with respect to each other about arotation axis extending through a center of the plug portion andinterior cavity.

In another embodiment, the pivot bar facing the open face has aprotrusion extending into the interior cavity, the protrusion abuttingthe plug portion when the ring lock is in the locked position. Thiskeeps the male part from moving laterally within the interior cavity, asthe protrusion fills any space between the pivot bar and the maleportion.

In another embodiment, the female part has a stop located on an exteriorof the side wall, the stop abutting the ring lock when the ring lock isin a locked position and preventing rotation of the ring lock beyond thefully locked position.

To assist the user in locking and unlocking the ring lock the ring lockcan have positioning flanges on each of the pivot bars. Thesepositioning flanges extend outward from each pivot bar and provide alarger surface area to assist a finger in rotating the pivot bars.

Preferably, the ring lock is held in either the locked or unlockedposition by a snap locked configuration, so that inadvertent rotationbetween the locked and unlocked position is prevented unless apredetermined force is applied to the ring lock.

In a one embodiment, the ring lock has a detent located on an interiorface of each side wall adjacent each pivot bar, and the side pieces ofthe female part have indentations corresponding to the locked positionand the unlocked position of the ring lock, such that the ring lock isheld in the unlocked or locked position by the detents resting in therespective indentations unless a force that moves the detent out of theindentation is applied to actively change the position of the ring lock.

In an alternative embodiment, the swivel connector has a spring elementformed on one side of the female part, which forces the ring lock into alocked position. The ring lock can be moved into an unlocked position torelease the male part by swiveling the ring lock with sufficient forceto overcome the pressure of the spring. When the ring lock is released,it moves automatically back into the locked position. This way, the ringlock cannot be inadvertently moved into an unlocked position to releasethe swivel connector. The ring lock must be held under pressure in theunlocked position in order to release the male part from the femalepart.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparentfrom the following detailed description considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that thedrawings are designed as an illustration only and not as a definition ofthe limits of the invention.

In the drawings, wherein similar reference characters denote similarelements throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 shows a front view of the assembled swivel connector according tothe invention;

FIG. 2 shows a rear view of the swivel connector;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the female part of the swivelconnector,

FIG. 4 shows a front view of the female part;

FIG. 5 shows a side view of the female part;

FIG. 6 shows a rear view of the female part;

FIG. 7 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 7-7 of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view of the male part of the swivel connectoraccording to the invention;

FIG. 9 shows a front view of the male part;

FIG. 10 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 10-10 of FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 shows a perspective view of the ring lock of the swivelconnector according to the invention;

FIG. 12 shows a front view of the ring lock;

FIG. 13 shows a rear view of the ring lock;

FIG. 14 shows a side view of the ring lock;

FIG. 15 shows a side view of the assembled swivel connector in a lockedposition;

FIG. 16 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 16-16 of FIG. 1 showingthe swivel connector in the locked position (rotated 180 degrees fromFIG. 15);

FIG. 17 shows a side view of the swivel connector in an unlockedposition;

FIG. 18 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 18-18 of FIG. 2 showingthe swivel connector in the unlocked position (rotated 180 degrees fromFIG. 17);

FIG. 19 shows a cross-sectional view along lines 19-19 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 20 shows a side view of an alternative embodiment of the invention,with the ring lock shown in broken lines for ease of illustration; and

FIG. 21 shows a front view of the embodiment of FIG. 21.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Referring now in detail to the drawings, FIGS. 1 and 2 show the completeassembled swivel connector 1 according to the invention. Swivelconnector 1 is formed from a female part 10, a male part 20, and a ringlock 30. Ring lock 30 is snapped onto female part 10 and is rotated intoposition to lock male part 20 to female part 10 when male part 20 isinserted into female part 10. Strap connectors 11, 21 are connected tofemale part 10 and male part 20, so that two straps can be connectedtogether via swivel connector 1. Female part 10 and male part 20 canrotate relative to each other around axis of rotation R when female part10 is locked to male part 20.

Female part 10 is shown by itself in FIGS. 3-7. Female part 10 has amain body 12 having an end wall 13, two side pieces 14, 15, an interiorcavity 16 and an open face disposed opposite end wall 13 and betweenside pieces 14, 15. A circumferential flange 18 is disposed in thecenter of interior cavity 16. A stop 17 is located on end wall 13,opposite the opening to cavity 16.

Male part 20 is shown by itself in FIGS. 8-10. Male part 20 has a plugportion 22 with an end cap 23 and a flange 24 located below the end cap23, with a groove 25 in between.

Ring lock 30 is shown in detail in FIGS. 11-14. Ring lock 30 is formedfrom two side walls 31, 32 connected by two pivot bars 33, 34 located onopposite sides from each other. Each of pivot bars 33, 34 has apositioning flange 36, 37 extending outward therefrom, to allow a userto rotate ring lock 30 using a finger. A protrusion 35 is located onpivot bar 34, extending inward toward pivot bar 33. Ring lock 30 issnapped onto female part 10 by fitting protrusions 312 on the interiorof side walls 31, 32 of ring lock 30 into indentations 42 of side pieces14, 15 of female part 10. The round shape of protrusion 312 andindentation 42 ensures that ring lock can swivel freely around an axisof rotation L extending through the center ring lock 30 and side pieces14, 15 of female part 10.

The fully assembled swivel connector 1 is shown in side andcross-sectional views in FIGS. 15-18. To assemble swivel connector 1,male part 20 is inserted into interior cavity 16 of female part 10,until flange 18 is fully inserted into groove 25 of male part 20, asshown in FIG. 18. Here, ring lock 30 is in an unlocked position, whichleaves interior cavity open for insertion of male part 20. As can beseen in FIGS. 7, 16 and 18, interior cavity 16 is divided into an upperchamber 19, which corresponds to the shape of end cap 23, and a lowerchamber 41, which corresponds to the shape of flange 24, so that plug 22fits securely within interior cavity 16 without play.

At this point, assembled ring lock 30 can be pivoted into the lockedposition shown in FIG. 16 by pressing downward on positioning flange 37of pivot bar 34. This moves pivot bar 34 into a position where it closesoff the opening to interior cavity 16, preventing any exit of male part20 from female part 10. As shown in FIG. 16, protrusion 35 now pressesagainst end cap 23 of male part 20, to prevent any lateral motion ofmale part 20 within female part 10. However, due to the round shape ofplug 22 and interior cavity 16, male part 20 can swivel or rotate withinfemale part 10, so that straps connected to each of female part 10 andmale part 20 can swivel around with respect to each other.

In the locked position, stop 17 on female part 10 prevents pivot arm 33of ring lock 30 from moving past the position shown in FIG. 16.

As shown in FIG. 5, side pieces 14, 15 of female part 10 are equippedwith four indentations 43, 44, 45, 46, which interact with detents 38,39 on ring lock 30, to secure ring lock 30 in the locked and unlockedposition. When ring lock 30 is in the locked position by detents 38, 39being held in indentations 43, 46, ring lock 30 is prevented from movingof these indentations by the frictional resistance of the side pieces14, 15. The same is true for when ring lock 30 is in the unlockedposition by detents 38, 39 being seated in indentations 44, 45.

FIG. 19 shows a cross-section of the assembled swivel connector alonglines 19-19 of FIG. 16, showing the detents 38, 39 of the ring lock 30being seated in the indentations 43, 46. As can be seen, the detents 38,39 overlap the sides of the female part outside the indentations, sothat considerable force is required to rotate ring lock 30 out of thefully locked or fully unlocked position. This prevents inadvertentrelease of the male part 20 from the female part 10, and allows the malepart to be installed easily in the female part without interference fromthe ring lock during assembly.

FIGS. 20 and 21 show an alternative embodiment of the invention, inwhich instead of locking detents to keep the ring lock in the locked andunlocked positions, a spring 50 is integrally formed with female part10. Spring 50 extends upwardly and exerts an outward force on ring lock30, to force pivot bar 34 downward and into the locked position,preventing male part 20 from releasing from female part 10. To move ringlock 30 into the unlocked position, the user must press down on flange36 of pivot bar 33, or press upward on flange 37 of pivot bar 34, toovercome the force of spring 50 until opening for releasing male part 20is exposed. Once the swivel connector is disconnected, the user cansimply release ring lock 30 and it will automatically move back into thelocked position. To connect the swivel connector again, the ring lock ispressed into the unlocked position against the force of spring 50 untilmale part 20 is inserted, at which point ring lock 30 can be releasedback into the locked position. Spring 50 is preferably constructed of athickness such that it has sufficient spring force to keep the swivelconnector securely locked during use, but flexible enough so that it isnot unduly difficult to release with a user's finger.

A stop 51 is positioned at the bottom of spring 50 to prevent ring lock30 from being rotated past a set position when it is locked.

Accordingly, while only a few embodiments of the present invention havebeen shown and described, it is obvious that many changes andmodifications may be made thereunto without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A swivel connector comprising: a female partcomprising: a main body having an end wall, two side pieces, an interiorcavity and an open face, a strap connector connected to the main body,and a spring connected to the main body, a male part comprising: a plugportion, and a strap connector connected to the plug portion, and a ringlock comprising two side walls connected by two pivot bars located onopposite sides from each other, the side walls of the ring lock beingrotatably connected to the side pieces of the main body of the femalepart and abutting the spring, so that the ring lock can be rotatedaround the female part from a locked position to an unlocked position byraising and lowering the pivot bars, wherein the male part is locked tothe female part by inserting the plug portion into the interior cavity,wherein the spring exerts a force on the ring lock to maintain the ringlock in a locked position where the open face is blocked by one of thepivot bars to prevent the male part from releasing from the female part,and wherein the male part is released from the female part by rotatingthe ring lock against the force of the spring until the open face is notblocked by the pivot bar, and sliding the male part out of the interiorcavity via the open face.
 2. The swivel connector according to claim 1,wherein the interior cavity has a shape corresponding to a shape of theplug portion.
 3. The swivel connector according to claim 2, wherein theinterior cavity has an upper chamber, a lower chamber and a flangebetween the upper and lower chambers on at least one of the end wall orside pieces, and wherein the plug portion comprises an end capcorresponding to the shape of the upper chamber, and a flange extendingoutward from the plug below the end cap and corresponding to a shape ofthe lower chamber, with a groove formed between the flange of the plugportion and the end cap, wherein the flange in the interior cavityengages the groove in the plug portion to secure the male part to thefemale part.
 4. The swivel connector according to claim 1, wherein theplug portion and interior cavity have a round cross-section, and whereinwhen the male part is locked to the female part, the male part andfemale parts can rotate with respect to each other about a rotation axisextending through a center of the plug portion and interior cavity. 5.The swivel connector according to claim 1, wherein the pivot bar facingthe open face has a protrusion extending into the interior cavity, theprotrusion abutting the plug portion when the ring lock is in the lockedposition.
 6. The swivel connector according to claim 1, wherein thefemale part has a stop located on an exterior of the end wall, the stopabutting the ring lock when the ring lock is in a locked position andpreventing rotation of the ring lock beyond the locked position.
 7. Theswivel connector according to claim 1, wherein the ring lock haspositioning flanges on each of the pivot bars, the positioning flangesextending outward from each pivot bar to assist a finger in rotating thepivot bars.